Three missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints visited the homes of Alexander and his father, Francis. They accepted the Gospel and were baptized. They sold their land and made preparations to join the Saints. They traveled by ox-team and wagons enduring many hardships, and finally reached DeWitt, Caldwell, Missouri, where they spent the winter. In the spring they moved to an area near Nauvoo, Illinois, and settled where ever they would be able to build a home. By this time Alexander and Catherine had nine children.

When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo in 1846 they moved with the others to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Almost immediately the government requested volunteers for the Mormom Battalion; three of the Beckstead boys joined, reducing the help much needed to look after the families.

Catherine's family made preparations for movement of their family to Great Salt Lake Valley, and reached there in September, 1849. They settled in West Jordan, Utah, where there was practically nothing but sagebrush, and settled on the River Bottoms by the Jordan River. Their only source of water was from the river.

They were the first family to get water on the land, after much hard labor, and built the "Beckstead ditch." The first homes were adobe huts, and some holes dug into the banks by the river. As rapidly as possible they built homes, and a school for the children. In 1853, they helped build the Old Rock Church in West Jordan, which still stands.

Her husband had a blacksmith shop and their farm, and were able to help the Saints in their move west, and others, by dividing what they had among the poor. Catherine's life was full of hardships, which she accepted, and built them into blessings, with a strong faith in the Gospel. Catherine was the mother of fifteen children, and left a large posterity.